Jen here. A day of odds and ends. Steve did a long run on those trails he spotted from the panoramic view yesterday. Ben and I made chocolate chip cookies for tonight's dinner at the Javines. Shopping for ingredients was fun - I was able to ask for eggs, and buy flour and brown sugar. Butter is not all "butter" - but is labeled with a percent to tell you the butter content. The best I could get was 82.5% - hmmm this seemed iffy for baking (and what is the other 17.5%?!). But the real challenge was baking soda. I forgot to look up how to ask for it and I wasn't sure which box was baking powder, which was baking soda, salt, corn starch ... I found a clerk who was game to play Charades and set to work - she was good, and I had soda about 30 seconds later. (The other day at the market, I found a clerk who was willing to make animal noises to tell me the contents of dumplings. The conversation went something like this: Jen: Moooo? Clerk: Nyet. Oink Oink! Jen: Ahhh. And this one? (pointing) Clerk: cluck cluck (with the wing motions). Jen: Horosho! Spaceeba! (Great, Thanks!) When Steve returned, we walked about 8 blocks north to the Tsum (a mall) and I bought just one more thing and changed our very last undesignated $100 bill. By the time we got back, it was time to go to Jon and Mary Lou's for a wonderful spaghetti dinner. The cookies were good - but a bit runny.

Our little boy is learning so much. He says new English words every day, he is starting to learn what is acceptable behavior to us (eating with fingers, running, shrieking and laughing, taking out lots of toys and spreading them all around the floor, jumping on mom and dad) and what is not (drawing on the wall, playing with the computer, flipping the lights off and on constantly). And the really great news is that he trusts us now at bed time. This evening I rocked with him for about 5 minutes, and for the first time, when I put him in bed he didn't cry. He just looked up at me and asked for the blanket. I rubbed his back and sang one song, and he was sound asleep!  (Of course, a couple miles of walking today probably helped too.)

Steve here.  We had one other adventure yesterday that occurred after I posted the day's web page.  Jon and Mary Lou and Ava came over in the evening, and we headed out to Dasterkhan, another outstanding Kaz restaurant.  As soon as the door closed, I realized that the keys were still inside!  Oh man.   I kept trying to find a way that I could blame the oversight on Jen, or Jon and Mary Lou, even Ben.  But I failed.  My fault.  I was pretty worried about it, but I called our WPA contact person in Almaty, and she called the landlord.  45 minutes later and I was back inside.  Whew.  Another reason why I love World Partners!  I caught up with the rest of the group at the restaurant.  They had even saved me some logmon!

As Jen said, I went for a long run today.  I got in about two hours of running, and did get up into some trails.  It was a little sloppy with the melting snow and mud, but I had fun.   I also had to face down a couple of dogs.  Ok, actually I just had to outrun them.  Temperatures were in the 40's and I finished the run in a T-shirt and shorts, getting several curious looks.

Steve and Jen are thinking of starting their own advertising firm here in Almaty to promote the local products. here are our ideas for slogans thus far:

1. Horse. It's what's for dinner!
   
2. Got Milch?
   
3. Tenge. Don't leave home without it.
   
4. Logmon. So chunky you can eat it with a fork! But use a spoon to get every drop.
   
5. Horse. The other white meat.
   
6. Lada. Like a rock. (really)
   
7.  Where's the horse?
   
8.  Lada. Quality is job 2310.

Not sure if these make sense to any of you - but Steve and I think we are hilarious.